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Greener Than Thou: SF to Be Hosed With Pesticides

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Greener Than Thou is our report on San Francisco’s obsession with all things green, calling bullshit in the poseurs and lavishing praise on those who have secured their place in environmental paradise. Easy being green for you? Preach to the choir!

Incoming! San Francisco, Marin County, and the East Bay are set to be sprayed down with a pesticide called, ironically enough, "Checkmate." The plan? Kill some sort of "light brown apple moth" that is allegedly wreaking havoc on agriculture in the area. The blitzkreig will begin in August, as planes saturate the air during nighttime hours, and will last for the next five years. Freaky. Freak-E. Orweillian. Hundreds of Santa Cruz and Monterey county residents have already launched complaints of asthma attacks, muscle aches, headaches— and the government hasn't officially ruled out the possibility that their special formula might pose health risks. The potion has never been used over populated areas, only farms. And there's no widespread infestation to begin with! We're "heading off a potential disaster," according to the government— and we know what that line means. (Yellow cake! WMD!) Raise a "hell no, we won't go" with the California Alliance to Stop the Spray, or CASS.
· State plans Bay Area pesticide spraying [SF Gate]